The Heart Divided
by Andromeda-To-The-Demitria
Summary: A three foot fence is the only thing separating Annabeth Chase, a resident of the calm farming county of East Corinth from the wild West Corinth. She's never given any nice thoughts to the world across the fence, but when a best friend falls for the enemy, Annabeth has to find the courage within her to overcome her prejudice and maybe find her own love in a reckless West horseman.


It takes just a moment.

One single action that determines the fate of an entire journey. Whether the results of that journey turn out to be good or bad rests in the owner's hands and theirs alone.

And as Annabeth is flung into the air from the wet leather saddle, she realizes this.

Everything happened with the decision of a restless farmer's brother who wanted something more to his life. His decision to cross the Nebraska-Wyoming line and create something different from fields and fields of corn and other crops.

The man's motivation to make a county and call it West Corinth to oppose his brother's East Corinth. Where rodeos were more appreciated than county fairs. Where they drove trucks through mud on purpose rather than to check the fields and irrigation. Where everything was _wild_.

And the decision of the man's farmer brother to build a three foot tall wooden fence to separate his quiet life from his brother's ruckus. And the choice of the first West Corinthian to spitefully wrap his brother's fence with barbed wire.

Did the two of them ever stop to think of what this could do to their people nearly a hundred and fifty years in the future?

The two of them would likely not ever have given a thought of the possibility of a East Corinthian girl falling for a West Corinthian boy. They would've never thought of a manipulative, prejudiced citizen who would be more than willing to stop the two from forming a relationship. They wouldn't have considered that the two crossed lovers would bring their two best friends in to it as well.

But then, it was a matter of loyalty to their counties. Fighting for what they believed in. But now, it was a matter of loyalty to friends, with no concern where each others' origin lay.

Annabeth lost her breath as she forcefully hit the ground. The mud splattered across her face, but the rain was quick to make it drain down her cheeks like tears. The rain echoed around her with loud pangs, filling her ears with noise.

The thunder rumbled again as a huge flash of lightning struck through the darkened sky. Her horse was beyond controllable in this kind of weather. The poor thing had never been one for storms and Annabeth regretfully wished she'd taken the neighbor's horse instead.

Annabeth, however, had no time to fight with a frightened horse. She'd have to run.

She shakily forced herself up from the muddy ground, trying to make direction of her destination. Her eyes scanned the area around for any familiar landmarks, but knew she'd find none. Annabeth knew almost nothing of this wild territory and the rain was too thick to identify anything at all.

Annabeth pressed down the panic, but this only awakened her to the growing pain in her left calf. Her boots, she noticed as she looked down during another flash of lightning, were covered in blood. Annabeth pulled up her pant leg to reveal a gash in a straight line.

Sickened, she pushed her pants down again only to find that whatever had gotten her and torn through her jeans.

Her horse reared and neighed again as a giant rumble of thunder shook the ground. Annabeth tried her best to ignore the pain and gently walked to her horse. "Steady, girl. Come on, stay calm," she said encouragingly.

It seemed to work for a moment. Owl cocked her head and trustingly looked at Annabeth. Annabeth grabbed her horse by the grey halter around its head. "There you go, Owl. Now are you going to let me-"

Lightening cracked again, followed by another thunder. Owl freaked out and accidentally pushed Annabeth to the ground, running off to find another source of safety.

Annabeth groaned as she fell onto the muddy West Corinthian soil again. Her fingers were caked with mud but she ran a hand through her soaked blonde hair in frustration.

She felt like sobbing. Her best friend was in deep danger right now and Annabeth couldn't even save her or stop her from putting herself there. Even running, Annabeth knew not where to go and she'd never make it in time.

Her fingers curled around a ball of mud in front of her and she screamed and threw it while still laying on her stomach. Why had this happened to her? Didn't the founders of the two counties see this coming? Was prejudice just that ignorant?

She couldn't change what they had done, but she could've changed how this happened, in the beginning.

The beginning. Before the West Corinthian Annual Rodeo Dance. Before she'd agreed to sneak in. Before everything changed with the truth unveiled. Before...

"Hey, lost your ride, Wise Girl?" an all too familiar West Corinthian voice said, his hand outstretched down to her while he sat atop his black stallion.

Back before a green-eyed, black haired, Seaweed Brain of a cowboy stepped into Annabeth's life.

* * *

**So, though I'm not a big fan of prologues, I did make one for this particular story! But this is actually a piece of the story later on...**

**And I was just super excited to get a least _something_ up for this story! Now, I don't really know what all you Percabeth fans like since I'm more of a Jasper writer so please bear with me since this is something new to me! **

**And, um, I don't know if she even remembers requesting this because it was a _long_ time ago, but this story was taken from _Blueberry Vampires_ idea of a Romeo and Juliet story request.**

**Thank you for all future reviews, follows, favorites, and reads!**


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